want to commend the ranking member of the foreign affairs committee for her leadership and hurt yeoman's work in bringing this work so expeditiously to the fore. let me also say how grateful i am a congressman for his bipartisan spirit and the good faith manner in which he negotiated this resolution and assisted in bringing it to the floor. today in the wake of so-called elections in iran, and on an overwhelming and near it unanimous bipartisan basis, the american people have spoken through this congress to condemn the violence and suppression of a free and independent press in iran, and as americans have done throughout our history, this congress today, on behalf of the american people, has spoken a word of heartfelt support to all iranian citizens who embraced by use of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law. some observers say that america should remain silent in the wake of the extraordinary violence and repression that has dominated the airwaves of the world emanating from iran for the last week. i say from my heart, the american cause is freedom. in this cause,

it is worthy of these veterans who have done yeoman's service to their country, who have sustained wound they'll bear for the rest of their life and have disability benefits which should not be offset. this is a significant step forward. it is a step we have not yet completed. it's a step in the right direction, but we still have a way to go and make sure we'll -- next year we'll have to revisit this again in order to renew this benefit, in order to expand it for another year. nevertheless this is a well worked piece of legislation for a veterans group that dearly deserves the benefits it provides. i urge support for the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from south carolina. mr. wilson: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina reserves his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to my friend, my colleague, the chairwoman of the armed services subcommittee on military personnel, the gentlelady from californi

they've done a yeoman's job and it's been a real pleasure working with the chairman and working with the staff on this bill. i look forward to many more years to do it. hopefully we'll change off chairman. we won't get into that. with that, mr. chairman, i would yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from california yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: let me say a special word of thanks to our ranking member, buck mckeon, as we welcome you and you do an excellent, excellent job. we thank you for your first-class efforts in making this come to pass. you've done wonder flee and we should all -- wonderfully and we should all be very grateful to you. at this time i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from missouri yields back. the question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from -- the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from missouri. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in ord

staffwork and i wish to acknowledge the fact that so many supporting both democrats and republicans did yeoman's work on this. mike higgins, john chaplain, jeanette james, they did such a fantastic job in gluing a difficult bill together. i want to publicly thank them. at this time, i yield one minute to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from georgia, also a member of the armed services committee, mr. marx. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. marshall: thank you. i want to thank everyone for the work that's been done for to relief from the disabled veterans tax. i would like to urge all veterans to call the inability of those who are entitled to concurrent receipt of retirement benefits and disability benefits to call this the disabled veterans tax, a term coined about six years ago, more and more veterans are using that term. as we use that term and get this thing libble -- labels the way it should be, as a disabled veterans tax, i'm convinced that over the years, we'll find the offsets needed to eliminate this unfair tax on disabled veterans. again, mr